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His dad won the National Spelling Bee in 1985. Now, he's competing for the 2018 title

Balu Natarajan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1985. Now his son Atman Balakrishnan, a sixth grader from outside Chicago, is competing in his first national competition in 2018 and looking to bring home a trophy.

His dad won the National Spelling Bee in 1985. Now, he's competing for the 2018 title

Ananya Vinay sat down with the Associated Press to show off her tremendous spelling skills after winning this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee. The 12-year-old championship speller won $40,000 for winning this year's compeition.
AP

Atman Balakrishnan, 12, and his father Dr. Balu Natarajan from outside Chicago. Atman is competing in the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Natarajan won the bee in 1985.(Photo: Sean Dougherty, USA TODAY Network)

For Natarajan, 46, watching his son on the stage is more nerve-racking than when he competed himself.

"Like anything else for a parent, it is much more emotional watching your kid when you don't have any control over it," he said. "I have a much deeper appreciation for my parents and their emotional state when I was competing."

Spelling on the national stage in 1985, Natarajan had the bright lights to face, but unlike today, ESPN wasn't live streaming the competition and airing the final round in prime time on Thursday night.

It is one of the biggest changes to the Bee that Natarajan has seen, but the advice for being on stage remains the same: Block everything else out and focus on the word.

"I liked the feeling of being up there — being on stage and being on television," Balakrishnan said. "But I didn't really think about that. I just thought about me and (pronouncer) Dr. Bailly and the word."

His word: cantico, meaning "a ceremonial dance of the Algonquian Indians of the Atlantic seaboard," according to Merriam Webster.

Atman Balakrishnan from Illinois spelled the word cantico correctly during the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Network)

The sheer number of words and influence of technology has also changed the Bee since Natarajan competed. He had to physically look up words in a dictionary to study and needed to know only around 10,000, whereas his son studies online and may need to know between 40,000 and 80,000 words, he said.

Balakrishnan said he gets up every morning around 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. to study on his own. His dad, mom and coach, among others, also help him prepare.

"He does a lot," Natarajan said. "To be able to just see him get here through all his hard work, that's the most important thing. And I'm really proud of him."

And while the sixth grader says his dad is his inspiration, he doesn't feel extra pressure from him.

"He encourages me to do it, but he says it's fine if I don't want to," Balakrishnan said. "But I want to, so he pushes me to work harder."

The father-son team want to win this year, but they're realistic with it being Balakrishnan's first year on the national stage. Balakrishnan said he has a goal of winning in the next few years, and he and his dad are proud of making it this far.

"The goal was to get here," Natarajan said. "It'd be nice to make it to Thursday morning, but 90% of the people don't. So we'll see what happens."

Either way, Natarajan has seen his son improve and mature making it this far.

"I learned through the spelling bee what hard work is, and I got closer to my family. And we've done that," Natarajan said. "The sky is the limit as to what we could get, but even if nothing else happens from here, we've gotten quite a bit already."